Jesse couldn't sleep despite the clock on his nightstand reading quarter after one in the morning. Worrying images of Jake's father doing terrible things to him while drunk kept flashing through his mind. While the man hadn't seemed explicitly violent when he'd seen him earlier, he knew all too well how alcoholic parents could go brutal at seemingly the flip of a switch until they sobered up; more than a few of his old street colleagues had lived through that particular experience.

He rose up out of bed. It was simply no use. He had to go and make sure his new friend wasn't hurt or worse, much as the Greenwoods had made it clear that they did not appreciate him sneaking out in the middle of the night. He quickly and quietly dressed and leaned his ear against the bedroom door. There was no sound from up the hall, hinting that Annie and Glen were indeed sound asleep. Jesse climbed softly out his bedroom window and shimmied down the drainpipe-by now a familiar exercise that he knew how to do quietly and efficiently. He grabbed his bike and started pedaling down the street in the direction of Jake's house. Ideally, if there was no issues at Jake's, he'd prefer to spend no more than an hour there and be safely back in bed before the Greenwoods woke up.

The ride to Jake's house took him about twenty minutes, and fortunately due to the late hour, very few people were out and about. Jesse braked his bike to a stop out front and listened closely. From the front right window, he could hear loud, slurred snoring, indicating to his relief that Mr. Perkins was soundly asleep himself, and by now hopefully more sober too. The window of the room on the left side of the second floor was wide open, hinting that this was Jake's room-and conveniently, a tree was growing right next to it. Jesse glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then grabbed hold of the tree's trunk and started climbing up. In a minute, he was level with Jake's room, and Jake was lying in bed, staring blankly ahead into space. His eyes lit up in surprise to see Jesse suddenly appear in his window. Jesse put a finger to his lips to signal him to remain quiet, then swung himself into Jake's room. "Hey, I was worried about you," he whispered to Jake, "I just came to check in. Your father didn't hurt you tonight, did he?"

"No, thank god. He gets really angry when he's drunk, but at least he's not violent, at least not so far," Jake told him, looking grateful to see him.

"Good. So, I want you to know, the Greenwoods told me you're welcome over their house with me any time," Jesse informed him, "Clearly I can see you can use a break every now and then."

"I need a really big break, Jesse. The whole last year has been a nightmare for me without an end," Jake lamented, putting both hands over his face in grief, "Dad used to be a nice guy, but the moment it was clear Mom was going to die, something broke in him. He fell into drinking real quick, and it's just gotten worse and worse. Like you saw earlier, he doesn't run his company well anymore. Plus the bills are piling up here; I don't know if we can pay the mortgage here much longer, let alone the regular taxes, with him squandering every cent he does take in on booze. I grew up a lot more than I would have wanted to the last year; I've had to go food shopping and handle the money and do the other things Dad usually would do; he's just been too drunk to bother. I'd have preferred to just have been a kid while I still had time to be one; I didn't want to grow up this quick, or to be stuck watching the man I used to respect become a complete embarrassment..."

He sniffed in grief at what fate had dealt him of late. "Tell me, Jake," Jesse leaned closer to him, "Did you come with me because you do really like me and really wanted to see the whales, or because you were so desperate to get out of here that you latched onto whoever you could find?"

"Well, honest truth, Jesse, a little of both," Jake confessed, "When I first met you, I suppose I was desperate for any friendship, anyone to talk to-not many kids here want to be friends with the son of a garbageman anyway. And when we went to the institute this afternoon, I did see it at first as just an escape. But although I'm not a water person, it really was fun to meet up with them, and I'd like to keep doing it with you..."

He froze up as his father let out a loud snort down the hall, but the man soon resumed snoring, signaling a false alarm. "And also the honest truth, Jesse, I do really like you as a friend," he told him with a grateful smile, "Everyone else I've tried to be friendly with at school's brushed me off. You let me reach out, and the last two days have been the best I've had in a long time. I don't feel as lonely as I did before. So please stay with me going forward. I don't want to be alone again."

He gave Jesse an almost pleading look not to abandon him. "Promise, Jake, I won't abandon you," Jesse promised him, shaking his hand. "Well, I'd better get going before the Greenwoods find out I'm gone," he rose back up, "Glad you're all right, Jake."

"Thanks so much for coming to check on me, Jesse; this means a lot to me," Jake beamed gratefully at him. Jesse returned the smile before climbing back out the window and down the tree. Jake was going to be all right going forward if he could help it.


SEPTEMBER 22ND

The school's lunch workers had failed again, Jesse felt, tossing down the fish cutlet that had been on the menu for today. It was far too undercooked and tasted terrible; in fact, half the cafeteria food tasted worse than the stale scraps he'd sometimes had to eat on the streets. Oh well, he thought, if nothing else, he could always raid the Greenwoods' cookie jar after school when Annie wasn't looking.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. Still another ten minutes to the next period. Reaching into his bookbag, he dug out several sheets of paper on which he'd been drawing pictures of some of the whales he and Jake had seen on their excursions thus far. He set down an unfinished one at the top of the stack, on which he'd begun drawing a humpback whale, and started working on it again, tracing the lines across the paper to form the whale as best he could remember it...

"That's a pretty good drawing," came a complimentary voice from behind him, making him jump in surprise and accidentally draw a line all the way down the middle of the whale. He spun and almost jumped again to see that it was the pretty girl from Mr. Banks' class. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the girl apologized. She bent down to look closer at the drawings. "You're a pretty good artist, you know."

"Well, I'm getting a little better," Jesse said nervously, "Uh..." he mumbled as she picked up several more of the drawings and looked at them, "They're not all complete yet..."

"They're good, though," the girl looked impressed. "I like this one the best," she held up the orca drawing.

"Mine too," Jesse nodded, "Orcas are my favorite whales."

"I like them best too," the girl started beaming. "Oh, I'm Judy," she extended a hand to him.

"Jesse," he shook it, glad that she seemed to like him, "I, uh, see you in Mr. Banks' class..."

"He's a good teacher," Judy said, "A bit off the wall at times, but I like him. Anyway, Jesse, I came over because I wanted to ask..." she hesitated for a moment, as if she was about to request something ordinarily forbidden, "You like whales a lot, don't you?"

"I do now, yeah."

"I've heard stories about you, about how you'd gotten a whale to freedom after they tried to kill it at Northwest Adventure Park, and how you're working with other whales now. So I'm wondering...the next time you go whale watching, I'd, I'd like to come along."

"You would?" Jesse was amazed, "So you like whales too?"

"My whole life," Judy said with a deep smile, "They've been my favorite animals since I was four; there've been times I've stood at my bedroom window watching them swim by in the ocean, and felt that there was something magical about them. Deep down, I want to be a marine biologist. And if there's any way you can help me with that..."

"Well tell you what, then, Judy; I happen to be going out again this afternoon, my friend Jake Perkins and I, if you know him, so yeah, if you really want to come, then come along," Jesse found himself smiling deeply as well.

"Wonderful!" Judy clapped her hands in delight, "OK, how about I meet you and Jake outside after school, and we'll go down to wherever you go together."

"The Walker-Blechman Oceanographic Institute," Jesse told her.

"OK then. Thank you so much, Jesse, this made my whole day," Judy was still smiling as she turned to leave, passing by Jake, who had gone to the bathroom in the meantime. He stared after her in amazement. "What did she want with you?" he asked Jesse in surprise.

"She wanted to come with us this afternoon, Jake, so I said yes," Jesse informed him.

"Her!?" Jake's head shot after Judy, "She'd actually want to come out with you and me!?"

"Yeah. She said she loved whales."

"Now that I didn't know about her," Jake watched Judy sit back down at her table, "But congratulations then, buddy," he slapped Jesse on the back as he sat down next to him, "Half the guys in the school would probably kill to do something with her."

"She is kind of pretty," Jesse admitted, staring at Judy himself, "What else do you know about her?"

"Not too much, actually-she's definitely in a different social circle than me," Jake admitted, "I know her family has some money, though, so maybe they could donate to the institute too."

"That would be nice," Jesse glanced up at the clock again. The end of the day now couldn't come quickly enough for him.


His clock watching continued for the rest of the day, so much so that he barely paid attention to many of his subsequent courses. Finally, it was time for Mr. Banks' biology class to end the day. He immediately turned towards Judy after he sat down. She too was staring intently at the clock, clearly waiting for the day to be over. It made him feel good inside that they shared such a great common interest in whales.

The bell now rang. "OK class, good afternoon," Mr. Banks, now compensating for his earlier wardrobe and wearing a tuxedo two sizes too big, strode up to his desk, "Now before we begin today, it's come to my attention that some of you have been whispering that you think this class is boring, and that I'm boring. Well it so happens, as I've said several times over, that the natural world is something we all should be in awe of. So, for today's course, I've decided to do a slightly different manner of teaching, one that might be able to hold your attention a little more than what I usually do. So, if you'll give me a minute..."

He removed his suit and put on a sequined jacket and glove, followed by a black hat, then climbed up on his desk. "If you'll hit play on the tape deck there, please, we'll get started," he instructed the boy seated in the front desk in the row on the far right. Jesse leaned forward in anticipation, wondering what exactly was going to happen. The opening strains of Bad started ringing out in the classroom. "You want to know about how the food chain and cycle of life works in the ocean, well let me tell you the best way I know how," Mr. Banks told his largely stunned and disbelieving class. He started popping dance moves and crooned out in his best Michael Jackson falsetto: "The word is out: you want to know; our ocean life, how does it grow? Well I'm the man with the answers, yeah. So listen close, and I'll make you care, sh'more, all right! The seafloor grass, you don't think twice, but to smaller fish, it tastes better than rice. To bigger fish, they then are meals, and the bigger fish, the sharks they kee-el. But all sharks have die some day, and I'll tell you what they do: their bodies nourish new sea grass, the circle of life, it's true, and yes it's good, it's good, it's really, really good. You know it's good, it's good, it's really, really good, HEE-HEE, it's good, it's good, it's really, really good, HEE-HEE! And the whole class has to answer right now, because I'm telling you once again: it's GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

He had not been watching where he had been going and promptly moonwalked backwards off his desk to the floor, making his students break out in riotous laughter. "I'm OK!" he insisted, stumbling back to his feet, "I think I know what the problem was: I practiced on a bigger desk at home. That way...oh, hi, Mr. Strichter, fancy seeing you here," he abruptly flashed a big fake smile, prompting his students to turn and see the principal in the doorway with a disapproving look on his face.

"Would you excuse us for a moment, students? I'd like a word with Mr. Banks," the principal extended an index finger towards Jesse's teacher and gestured for him to come closer. Gulping, Mr. Banks hustled over for the conference. They started speaking in low tones, although still loud enough for Jesse to make out their words: "...told you to be professional, for the love of god!" Mr. Strichter lambasted Mr. Banks.

"I was trying a new approach at teaching; I wasn't hurting anyone!" Mr. Banks protested.

"Except yourself. But let me make this clear, Jack: Donner Junior High takes pride in its educational system, and if we are embarrassed, myself and the school board will not take kindly to you or anyone," Mr. Strichter warned him, "Let me remind you that you got this job simply because there were no other readily available applicants; we can easy find someone better than a washed up hack actor with only minimal teacher experience. Now do it right, or else."

He turned and stomped out of the room. "Of course," Mr. Banks said with a nervous smile. "Well, OK, so much for that idea, class," he hustled back to his desk, "I guess I'm going to have to do this the traditional way, then...yes, a question good," he noticed a hand going up.

"Yeah, I just want to say something, and I think I speak for all of us here," it was Bart Mertz standing up to Jesse's left with a disgusted look, "You're a joke, Banks. A complete joke. It's bad enough you try and force us to learn things that mean nothing to us, but the fact you make yourself look like a fool doing it is worse. Because the worst authority figure is a dumb one. We want a new teacher, am I right?" he turned to the rest of the class, well over half of whom clapped in approval. Jesse noticed Mr. Banks' expression deflating like a balloon, sadness creeping onto his face that he had so completely failed to connect with his students. The teacher slumped slowly onto his desk. "Well, I guess if you all feel that way, I guess there's not much I can say to you today," he mumbled numbly, "Class dismissed. You can head on out now."

"All right, early dismissal!" a girl shouted.

"Not so loud; don't tip the other teachers off!" another admonished her. The class quickly gathered up their belongings and headed for the door. Jesse, though, remained rooted in his chair. The old him would have done what Bart had done, he knew-the old him had considered all authority figures stupid and evil. And now, seeing things from another perspective, he realized how wrong that mindset had been. Thus, he couldn't stop himself from grabbing Bart's shirt sleeve before the other boy could leave. "You didn't have to be that harsh with him!" he snapped, "He was doing his best!"

"Yeah, go ahead and suck up to him, Whale Boy; maybe you can be a clown like him someday, and join a circus or something," Bart sneered, pulling away and following his classmates out. Jesse noticed that Judy had not left, however, and she looked saddened that Mr. Banks had been put down as he'd been. She now in fact got up and approached his desk. "I just want to say, Mr. Banks, don't take what they say seriously. I think you're doing a great job," she told him sympathetically.

"Well, good to know I'm at least getting through to you, Josie," he looked up and smiled.

"Um, it's Judy, actually."

"Oh yeah, Judy, Judy, what was I thinking?" Mr. Banks slapped his forehead, "How did I forget that? You have some of the best grades in this class so far."

"I like the subject a lot," she told him, "I can't wait till we get to whales; they're my favorites. So please don't go before then; I think you'd do great trying to teach about them."

"Whales, huh? Seems to be a pretty popular subject among the kids who do take this class seriously," Mr. Banks turned to Jesse, "Thanks for not leaving either, Jess."

"I liked what you were trying to do," Jesse approached the teacher's desk, "I'm an MJ fan too."

"I see," Mr. Banks bent down and picked up his briefcase from the floor, "Well, maybe it's going to take a field trip to get them interested in the natural world. Any luck with getting permission from the institute?" he asked Jesse.

"I told them you were interested; they'll work on it," Jesse told him, noticing Jake standing in the doorway. He waved his friend back into the room. "We're going back again this afternoon; maybe I can check then."

"Sounds good," Mr. Banks opened the briefcase and dropped the glove and hat into it, "Actually since you guys share that interest, I might as well tell you, it was the whales around here that made me want to set down roots here. If you listened in when I spoke with the principal, you might have heard I did some acting before. I came up here when I was cast in a bit role in the big film they shot here a few years ago. You know, the one where the kids go looking for the pirate treasure?"

"Yeah, I've seen it," Jesse nodded, "You were in that?"

"Briefly towards the end. Anyway, we filmed the climax in the cove at Tugend Bluff State Park not far from here. I had one big moment, and I kept blowing my lines," he leaned back in his chair, looking nostalgic, "We broke for lunch, and I wandered down to the shoreline, trying to get back into the groove. Then I saw them: the orcas. A big pod of them splashing in the waters offshore. And when I watched them, I felt a feeling of inner peace, a feeling that everything was going to be all right. I went back and nailed the scene on the next take. When the day was over, I walked back down to the ocean to wish them farewell. They all jumped out of the water and put on a show for me, almost as if to welcome me here. And I knew then that this area was where I belonged. So I moved up here. And when I went into teaching full time-it's of course a bit harder to find acting jobs in this area-I chose to focus on biology, and marine biology most notably. I guess it's my way of thanking the whales for luring me here-and a way to introduce kids like you to the magic they can generate."

"They sure can," Jesse nodded in agreement, "Maybe if the rest of the class did see the whales up close and personal, they'd realize what we gain by having them here."

"I hope so. But let me know when you have a firm yes from the institute; I'd like to go out first, to get reconnected with the whales again and get an idea how the lecture I'd give them might go."

"OK then, I guess we'll be heading out too, then," Jake said, maneuvering his books closer to his side, "Don't get discouraged, Mr. Banks. You'll get through to everyone yet."

"I'll certainly try, Ekaj."

"Uh, it's Jake."

"Sorry, had that backwards. Take care, the three of you-and thanks for believing in me," he told them gratefully.

"Keep trying, Mr. Banks, you'll get there," Judy encouraged him. "All right, let's do it!" she told the boys excitedly, bounding after them out the door, "Let's go find some whales!"

"Shh!" Jesse warned her, pointing at the classes still in session; the last thing they needed was to be the ones who got caught for leaving early.

"Right, sorry," she whispered softly. "So anyway, Jesse, I've heard stories about how you and the whale..."

"His name was Willy."

"Willy. That's a nice name. How was it then that the two of you ended up driving into Dawson's Marina and jumping over a breakwater, as I've heard?"

"Well," Jesse took another deep breath, holding the school's front door open for her and Jake, "Like I told Jake here a few weeks ago..."